Celebrating Choirs of Kansas City

Kansas City is blessed with a number of excellent choirs. Some are professional, some volunteer and others semi-professional. This blog will not delve into professional verses non-professional. Rather the focus is on celebrating a few of the choirs in Kansas City, whose singers reside in Kansas City. These choirs are all composed of singers from the greater Kansas City area.

Over the past weekend these choirs were heard in outstanding performances. Some of these performances were premieres, here and on the road. The three choirs I’d like to feature are The Kansas City Chorale, Charles Bruffy, conductor; Te Deum, Matthew Christopher Shephard, conductor; and the William Baker Festival Singers, William Baker, conductor. Each of these choirs, this past weekend performed music that demands great choral prowess, and nuances that each conductor brings to the art, creating music that is owned by singers and conductor alike.

The Kansas City Chorale premiered, along with two other choirs, the WORLD PREMIER of Requiem by Alexander Kastalsky. Dr. Kurt Knecht, The Chorale's esteemed collaborative pianist, gave a superb rendering of the orchestral reduction. A reviewer made this observation of Bruffy's interpretation of the Requiem: "Bruffy commanded both triumphal phrases and, at times, breathtaking stillness, the phrases lingering on nearly imperceptible pianissimos. The work's finish received a prolonged ovation." 

This is from The Kansas City Choral website:

Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended the War to End All Wars, and in memory of the brave allies who gave their lives for freedom, the Kansas City Chorale, joined by singers from the Clarion Choir of New York and the Chamber Choir of St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Pennsylvania  will perform this moving Russian tribute at the National World War I Museum and Memorial.

One week later, these ensembles will join the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, maestro Leonard Slatkin, Soundmirror, and the Cathedral Choral Society to perform and record the world premiere with symphony at the prestigious Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC.

I am most envious of the opportunity, as they are affectionately known in Kansas City - “The Chorale,”  they had to perform the Requiem here in Kansas City, and their journey to the Nation’s Capital, to perform it under the baton of Leonard Slatkin. Slatkin is one of our national treasures. In addition to being one of the most respected conductors, he is a teacher of conductors. I had the privilege of studying under one of his students, Tsung Yeh. Tsung Yeh served as his assistant when Slatkin was with the St. Louis Symphony.

What makes The Chorale exceptional, aside from their Grammy Award winning recordings, is that they are a hometown choir comprised of singers from Kansas City, as are the other choirs featured in this blog. There is a movement afoot of bringing in singers to a conductor’s hometown, rehearse for a few days, then present a concert. I am not a fan of this kind of ensemble. Being a part of a community, in which one works, lives, plays and sings, is what makes holistic ensembles. This is a topic for another blog, as the purpose of this blog is on hometown choirs from Kansas City. But it is with worth exploring, at some point.

Te Deum, is another hometown Professional choir:

Te Deum is a choral arts organization comprised of two ensembles: Chamber Choir, which performs a diverse sacred choral repertoire in a uniquely relevant context while creating a musically inspiring, spiritually stirring experience; and Antiqua, which provides Kansas City with a highly skilled ensemble dedicated to historically informed performances of early music.

Their most recent performance, “To Life,’ ncluded a tribute to the centennial of legendary composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein. The choir presented Bernstein’s  “Chichester Psalms,” scored for choir,  soloist, organ, harp and percussion. The piece draws upon the Psalms and the “hopeful, life-affirming messages they share.”  In addition to the Bernstein, there were two world premieres by Karen Siegel and Stewart Duncan, as well as works by David Lang and Aaron Jay Kernis.

Accompanying Te Deum on organ, was Kansas City’s own Grande Dame of the Organ, Dr. Jan Kraybill. For this performance, she played two totally different organs, built to represent different periods. She did an outstanding job of making the Bernstein work on each of those instruments. Jan posted this on Facebook:

Throw this Harley girl a challenge and I will nearly always take it on! Yesterday afternoon and tonight (October 15), I was/am organist for two performances of Chichester Psalms in two different venues with two very different instruments.

For my non-organist friends: every pipe organ is a custom-designed work of art. My favorite, and the most challenging, part of being a traveling organist is getting to know the unique characteristics of each instrument and coming up with creative solutions for the various challenges presented by the musical score. Bernstein’s score in this case is quite a challenge in itself.

A summary of just the physical differences at the console: yesterday’s instrument is by Richards, Fowkes (their Opus 22, inaugurated just last year), tracker action, 3 manuals, flat pedalboard, with sequencer. Tonight’s is by Aeolian-Skinner (Op. 1411, installed in 1963), rebuilt by Quimby in 1993, electro-pneumatic action, 4 manuals, concave radiating pedalboard, no sequencer. Tonal differences abound as well, of course.

One-word summary: Fun!

I love my job(s).

In closing, mention must be made of The William Baker Festival Singers. The Festival Singers is akin to the auditioned community choir, including professional singers, all of which volunteer their time to be part of this ensemble. The singers just returned from a series of concerts in the Washington DC area. According to Baker – “The weekend was one of the Festival Singers finest hours.” Members of this ensemble, live, work, play and make music her in Kansas City. What makes this group standout, is the residence composer program offered to young composers.

Ed Frazier Davis, is the current composer in residence with the Festival Singers. A work by Mr. Davis, has been presented on each Festival Singers program, since Ed joined the group. Most of the pieces performed by the Festival Singers are premiers of Ed’s compositions, including major works with orchestra. On a side note: Ed is the Bass Section Leader/Assistant Choral Director at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, here in Kansas City, of which I am Music Director/Organist.  

In closing, these three ensembles are stellar examples, each in their own right, of choral music making that raises the bar of what can be accomplished within one’s community. Kansas City has numerous ensembles, beyond these three, that are worth mentioning: Kantorei, Schola Cantorum, MusicaVocale, and many others, including our ensemble, the St. Andrew’s Singers.

I do hope you’ll check out these ensembles - by attending a concert or two.